The Natural Order of Things According to Harley
by kattabear
Summary: A short one shot about Harley, a teenage girl living in the Capitol during the Quell.


The Hunger Games won't be particularly fun this year. Everyone in school talks about how the Quell shouldn't be allowed, and I agree. Mommy worked so hard to guarantee an invite to Katniss and Peeta's wedding reception and now it's worthless. All the victors and famous Capitol people were supposed to be at the wedding and I've lost my chance to meet them. I heard a rumor that Finnick Odair was going to be there. Finnick Odair! Needless to say, I cried for days after the Quell was announced. Mommy finally coaxed me out of my room with a mockingjay belt buckle made specially for me! Creepy President Snow banned mockingjay apparel in school though, so I couldn't show it off. The President is such a fun suck.

Mommy got us tickets to the interviews tonight. My friends and I spent all day in school debating what color Caesar would sport this year. Vora swore she saw Caesar leaving the salon yesterday with bright pink hair. I disagreed. Come on, everyone knows pink would clash with Caesar's skin tone, and it would be such a blatant copy of Effie Trinket's hair last year. I told my friends I'd text them from the interviews so they'd know the color before it starts on TV. I'm so glad mommy gets us access to these high-profile events. It makes me super popular.

The interviews are excellent. Finnick looks dreamy as usual and reads a poem that I only wish could be directed to me. If I'd actually been able to go to the wedding, it might as well have been. I know I would've captured his heart with just one spin on the dance floor. Even though I'm having fun, I feel so angry. Our victors are right. The Capitol can't throw them back in the arena – they're _ours_. I cry when I see Katniss in her wedding dress. It's the one I voted for and I can't accept that this is the only time I'll see her in it, that she'll never have her happily ever after. I sold my favorite sapphire earrings last year to sponsor Katniss and Peeta. I feel that President Snow has betrayed me as well as the victors. I helped Katniss and Peeta win by selling my personal property and now that victory is worthless.

What's happening? Katniss is on fire! Oh, it's beautiful. She's a mockingjay. Cinna is a genius. Mommy bought me an outfit designed by him before he got big. I always brag that I helped discover him.

Now it's Peeta's turn. He's always fun to watch. My mind goes blank when he says Katniss is pregnant. But not for long. I stand up and start to scream and yell. Mommy tries to pull me down to my seat, but I wrench out of her grasp. "Stop the Quell! This is murder to that child!" When all the victors stand as one, I stop. The sight is so unprecedented and shocking. Then, the broadcast cuts and chaos erupts. I find myself close enough to touch Finnick Odair, but surprisingly, I don't take advantage of this position. My mind buzzes. I find my way to a car and turn on my phone which rings constantly. All my friends want an insider's report of what craziness happened at the interviews tonight. I silence the phone and ride back to the apartment with a dull roar from the streets keeping me company.

Lying in bed I feel kind of strange. I want to change this. I want to stop the Quell. I've never felt more strongly about anything in my life. I finally fall asleep. In the morning, I watch the Quell with Mommy. Watching is difficult. So difficult that I leave midmorning while the bloodbath continues for a walk down the street. I put on my mockingjay belt and board the elevator.

The fresh air does some good but I'm still upset when a couple surreptitiously gestures me to them. They look dirty and poorly dressed, especially when surrounded by the large houses and shiny lawn ornaments of my neighborhood, the neighborhood where the highest Capitol officials live. I approach them warily. When I am close, the woman mutters excitedly but softly, "The meeting-where is the meeting?"

"What meeting? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

Both the man and woman point at my belt with its large mockinjay insignia. "We want to help the cause," the man is saying, "please, we heard Plutarch Weatherbee supported the districts. Where is the meeting to help? We want to join the resistance."

I listen with growing shock. A resistance? Assisted by a very high-profile Capitol man? Although it hurt to watch the Quell, this was too much. The Districts have known their proper place for years. The Capitol rules and the Districts must participate in the Games. The interviews and Quell have not made my mind go _that _crazy as to poke around in the natural order of things! I decide fast and say, "Oh, _that_ meeting. It's right this way, follow me. We'd love to have your help."

I lead the traitorous couple to my house. Opening the door, I yell, "Mommy! We have some visitors." I wonder if Mommy will buy me new boots or a new phone for getting these traitors for her to arrest. Maybe she'll even buy me new sapphire earrings to replace the ones I sold last year! Or better yet, she could arrange a meeting between me and Finnick if he wins the Quell! As she meets me at the door I say sweetly, "Mommy, I found this couple looking for Plutarch Weatherbee…"


End file.
